AIne
by SeijuurouKyonji
Summary: Mikaze Ai is just a replica robot of Kotobuki Reiji's best friend Kisaragi Aine, who commits suicide but fails when his uncle found him. Now, Aine-san is in comatose and still haven't woke up. His uncle created a robot and named him Mikaze AI: Artificial Intelligence. The other ST RISH and QUARTET NIGHT members have no clue that Mikaze Ai is actually a robot and Reiji just think
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"..moete"

"iruyo"

"ai no"

"KA"

"RU"

"TE"

"TTO"

"Night!"

And the music stops when Ranmaru accidentally tripped.

"Mou, Ran-ran~!" Reiji pouted and hit Ranmaru in the head, so did Camus using his scepter while on the other hand Mikaze just sighed. He walked over the computer and paused the music. He opened a empty document and started to type while Ranmaru and Camus fight in the background and Reiji trying to stop them.

It's always like this ever since then, he thought as he continues to type. Minutes later, the other ST RISH member enters but Camus and Ranmaru didn't stop arguing.

"What happened here?" Ichinose asked and looked over Reiji who was still busy trying to pull Camus and Ranmaru apart.

"Ne, Mikaze-senpai, what—-" Syo trailed off.

"We were just practicing a song while dancing when Ranmaru made a mistake and now Camus hits Ranmaru in the head and they are now arguing..." Mikaze replies as he types, not even bothering to look up at Syo.

Syo and Natsuki just glanced each other, not even bothering to ask anymore.

Until a deep laugh emerges from their place.

"Don't tell me..." Ittoki said under his breath and Ren just smirked.

"ST RISH's senpai are showing something not so them ahh..." He deeply said and then he twirls around 3 times then pulls Cecil and Ittoki and then slungs his shoulder over them and ruffles their hair.

"Ch-chairman...!" Ittoki said and then Saotome twirls away and then smiled and looked at Reiji and Mikaze.

"There's another senpai who would be here for a while and I must be off!" Saotome said and then left the ST RISH and QUARTET NIGHT members in awe.

"Well... (◎_◎;)" Syo said and the rest sighed.

"Anyway..." Ren started and looked at Reiji and asked what they were practicing.

"Just our new dance steps," He replied then someone opened the door and two boys around their age entered. One of them had droopy violet eyes with hair somehow the same with Reiji, but shorter and was colored in rifle green and the guy besides him had messy umber hair that spikes down and his eyes were slight droopy and had the same color with his hair and when these two boys entered, Reiji exlcaimed and hurried to them.

"Hibi~chan! Nami-onpa!" He exclaims and one of them flinched.

"DON'T CALL ME NAMI-ONPA!" He looked to where Mikaze is and gaped.

"Aine...?" He muttered and the guy with rifle green hair gazed to where the guy with umber hair guy is looking.

"You're wrong~" Reiji said and grabbed "hibi~chan" and "nami-onpa" by the wrist and pulled them to where Mikaze is and introduced Mikaze to both of them.

"Ai-Ai, these are my two friends~! Hibi~chan and Nami—-"

"It's Onpa Kei!" He firmly said.

"I'm Katakiri Hibiki, nice to meet you," Katakiri said and extends his hand out and Mikaze just nodded and went back to using the computer.

Both Onpa Kei and Katakiri Hibiki looked at each other and Katakiri leaned and whispered, "He looks a lot like Aine, doesn't he?" Kei nodded and looked at Mikaze who was now typing.

"Nami-onpa, where's Aine~chan?" Reij asked and started to poke Kei's cheek. Kei slaps Reiji's hand and looked him in the eye and in a serious tone, "Reiji, he's gone missing for a long time now."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 _ **"Reiji, he's gone missing for a long time now."**_

The moment Kei mentioned that Kisaragi Aine disappeared, every members of ST RISH and QUARTET NIGHT looked at him but Reiji just laughed and slung his arms over Kei and Katakiri and laughed in a not-so-him way.

"I never knew you could now joke, Nami-onpa," He laughs but Kei diverts his gaze to the left, gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. Katakiri on the other hand took a sharp deep breath and didn't release it for a while. Kei grabs Reiji's wrist and then gripped it hard.

"Does it look like I'm joking?" He asks and after that, Reiji fell on the floor, his eyes turning soulless. Everyone, including Mikaze who was just using the computer a while ago, turned to where Reiji is sitting on the floor.

"No way... There's just no way..." He mutters the two words over and over again. Kei and Katakiri besides him.

"Uhm..." Natsuki started and Katakiri looked up and stood.

"Aine is... a best friend of Reiji before he met you guys. Then there was this day where he had a day off and the following day, he just disappeared." He explains and at the moment he explained, Reiji's left hand covered his face and started to sniff.

"Rei-chan..." Ittoki said and he and Ichinose glanced at each other and then looked at Reiji who was now suffering with grief.

"I think I've heard of it before, about that Aine-san," Jinguji said and had hand on his chin and and Hijirikawa nodded. Ranmaru looked at the two of them and then they heard Reiji's cries and when they all looked to where Reiji was, and he was already hugging his knees.

They were all silent and the whole room was filled with the sad cries of Reiji and none of them could help them. All of a sudden, Mikaze stood up and walked out of the room, having Camus glanced at him as he left.

"Do excuse me for a while," Camus said and left the room.

"I feel terrible for Rei-chan..." Natsuki muttered and the one who heard him was Syo who was just standing beside him.

Mikaze was still walking silently without even noticing Camus who was hiding in the trees, silently following him.

Mikaze was about 3 inches away from where Camus was and every time Mikaze advances, Camus slowly walked nearer to him until Mikaze stopped and Camus was forced to dive in the bush, the only available hiding spot for Camus and because of this, Camus' hair had leaves on it.

Camus: (;¬_¬)

Mikaze stopped there and someone (whom Camus can't see the face) was wearing a lab gown. He extends his arms out and pats Mikaze on the head. That someone leaned closer to Mikaze's ear and immediately Mikaze collapsed on his knees and Camus couldn't help but stand up and rushed to where Mikaze is. He looked up and saw a man wearing large eye glasses and has really messy brown hair that looked at Camus and he smiled slightly as he carried Mikaze on his arms.

"Now that one of the guys from this school followed my creation, it looks like I won't have a problem in finding Rei-kun," He says and Camus gulps and looks at Mikaze and asked the man,

"What do you mean by creation?"

"Has anyone seen Mikaze-senpai or Camus?" Cecil asked and then everyone excluding Reiji, Kei and Katakiri, shook their heads then as if it were faith, Camus enters with someone behind him.

"Camus, where were-" Ranmaru suddenly gasped when he saw Mikaze in the arms of a stranger.

"Ai!" Syo exclaims and went to where Mikaze was and the others followed him behind while Reiji just looked dimly at where Mikaze was and when he saw the face of the one holding Mikaze, his eyes widened, so did the eyes of Katakiri and Kei.

"H-hakase?!" The three of them exlcaimed and the stranger looked up at them and smiled slightly.

"Long time no see, Kei, Katakiri..." He starts and the two of them stood up.

The professor looked at the room then to Reiji.

 _"Especially you, Rei-kun"_


	3. Chapter 3

"Especially you, Rei-kun..."

Everyone turned and looked at Reiji who still looks like a ghost from the news he heard. His mouth moved and slowly, the words "hakase" came out of his mouth. The professor smiled and walks at the room wherein a couch was positioned. He placed Mikaze there and then walked over to Reiji and the other two. He squats and now is at the eye level of Reiji who looks up but still has soulless eyes.

"Ha...ka...se..." Reiji slowly said and the professor just pats Reiji's head and slowly ruffled it.

"Hakase..." Kei mutters and the professor stood up and just nodded.

"Look how the three of you guys grow up..." The professor commented. Kei nodded while Katakiri felt flattered but didn't show it on the outside. Reiji on the other hand was still the same as when Kei told him that Aine had gone missing.

"What happened to this champ?" The professor asked and looked at Kei and Katakiri for some answers but they avoided his gaze and from this point, the professor easily understood what happened.

"Lemme tell you something about my nephew..." He said and at the moment he said the word "nephew", Reiji immediately stood up and asked if the professor knew where Aine was, so did Kei and Katakiri. The rest who were near Mikaze also were interested and some went near the professor while the others stayed where they were but the professor held his hand, signalling them to stop where they are because the professor stood up and went to where Mikaze lies and he sits at the little spot of the couch.

"You see..." He starts as he caressed Mikaze's hair gently, "Ai is just a robot. From the name itself. "AI" literally means Artificial Intelligence." And with this sentence, everyone in the room had their jaws drop on the floor, even Kei and Katakiri who had never talked with him before also gapped.

"Ai-Ai is just a...!" The professor nodded.

"No one noticed Reiji standing up and when he finally stood up, he asked, "Hakase, what's your reason to make Ai-ai then?" Everyone was taken in by his question and the professor smiles sadly.

"Rei~chan..." Ittoki said.

"Before my nephew 'disappeared', he was actually having a good life. He being famous at an early age was huge. Everyone loves him and whenever he comes to my place, he was always wearing that bright smile of his." At this sentence, Kei nods, knowing how Aine was doing before he disappeared.

"Of course, not all celebrities have the perfect fun life they dreamed to have. There was one day when Aine visited me...

"Oh Aine, you're just in time..." The professor said as he was mixing some chemicals and then was pouring it in another beaker. He waited for a response but the only thing he heard was a loud thump.

He left the laboratory. The place was still the same but he saw Aine lying on the floor panting heavily. The professor immediately drag Aine's body towards his room. He removes Aine's shirt and replaced it with a white collared shirt. He wipes off the sweat and he turned the room's air conditioner on.

A while later Aine's phone vibrated. The professor grabbed Aine's phone and on the screen reads the name of Reiji. He opens the message and reads:

Aineyan~

I'm feeling nervous with the audition~. There's this guy who sings rock music and it was good. It even sounded good with the guitar he brought...

Hope you're doing well, Aineyan~!

Ja'na~

And the whole message ended there. The professor sighed and looked at Aine who was now awake somehow. He turned his head to see the face of the professor. Aine smiled at him and apologized.

"Why are you apologizing?" The professor asked but he didn't got the reply because Aine went back to sleep.

The following day, the professor checked on Aine and when he saw that he was still sleeping, he closed the door and left his house.

"...It was raining hard and the ocean was so violent that sometime later the boat would flip over. Then at the horizon, I saw someone in the sea and when I focused my gaze, I could see a hair in cyan colored and that's when I just reluctantly jumped in and found out that it was Aine.

"I tried waking Aine up. My other companions suggested to take him at the hospital but I opposed. I'm not saying that I should've taken him in the hospital, but then he's been in a comatose for years now. I created Ai," He looks at Reiji then at Mikaze, "So that you won't miss Aine. I also told you that Aine's having a concert abroad, right? That/s just a part to hide that Aine really had gone missing..."

Reiji looked at the professor and his knees gave up on him, Katakiri had wide eyes and Kei just doens't want to believe everything while Ranmaru, Camus and every ST RISH members were silent, still obviously haven't taken anything the professor said, especially the part of Mikaze being a robot.

The professor walked near to Kei, Katakiri and to Reiji and in a low voice, he asked...

"Do you want to visit Aine?"


	4. Chapter 4

_**"Do you want to visit Aine?"**_

* * *

Reiji was staring outside the window as the sight of the buildings and people walking on the sidewalk passed by in a blur.

Kei, who was besides him and Katakiri, was listening to some songs in his shuffle and as for Katakiri, he was humming quietly. The others were in another van with Camus on the driver's seat, Ranmaru on the passenger seat.

"Ne Ran~chan..." Ren said, leaning in the gap between the driver and the passenger's seat. Ranmaru placed his elbow at the window.

"What?" He grumpily asked.'

"...What do you think about the whole 'Mikaze-is-a-robot'?" Ranmaru turned the radio off and left the whole van in silence.

"I honestly have no comment..." Ranmaru replied and Ittoki groaned which made everyone looked at him, Camus using the rear-view mirror around hangs a small cello key chain.

"I don't know what's going on right now! I want someone to tell me that I'm just dreaming and—-" Ittoki trailed off when Ichinose slapped Ittoki in the face and everyone's face dropped.（゜◇゜）

"Tokiya~! Why'd you do that?! (○o○)" Ittoki asked and Ichinose wore a smirk on his face and replied, "Well, now you know that you're not dreaming anymore..."

Everyone laughed at his reply and Ittoki pouted at first then laughed along. After a while, it was dead silent yet again.

Cecil, who was sitting besides Ren, said, "It is a good thing that Nanami is not here." The ST RISH members nodded and Camus made a turn to the left and the others gripped something tightly. After the sharp turn by Camus, Camus looked at Cecil using the rear-view mirror and said, "Oi baka-neko, just where is the girl?"

"She's visiting her grandmother now that Shining Saotome allowed her to take a few weeks' vacation," Natsuki answered Camus' question and Camus just nodded and had his gaze back on the road with the car where Reiji's on it.

A little while later, the car in front of them stopped to a house and the professor stepped out of the car and they all followed, having Camus left in the car for a while to turn the engine off and he just stepped out of the car, going behind of Cecil and Ranmaru.

The professor had his hands on the door knob but before he gave it a turn, he looked back at the boys and then eyed Reiji.

"You'd better be ready to what you'll see..."


	5. Chapter 5

_"You'd better be ready of what you'll see"_

* * *

They entered the house of the professor and Katakiri sighed and said, "It's been a while since I've visited your house, hakase..."

"Well, I do miss the times where you guys would sing," As he said this, his gaze was focused on Reiji's but Reiji didn't exactly looked at the professor since his gaze was wondering off elsewhere, somehow reminiscing the whole past.

"Hakase," He speaks and the professor nods once, immediately understanding what was going on in his mind. He looks at the other members and told them to take a seat first while they go visit Aine but they all refused.

"Ayaya... kids nowadays..." He mutters and then left them in the living room. They all sat down on the sofa while Reiji was on his feet, leaning his back against the wall, as they all wait for the professor. Katakiri and Kei were in the kitchen and were making coffee and cappuccino and served them. Kei gave Reiji a cup of cappuccino which he accepts.

After a little while, the professor came back in and now, he has a company behind him who was actually Mikaze. Mikaze looked at the room and when he saw Reiji looking like him like he's seen a ghost, Mikaze walked near him and tried to look him in the eye but Reiji avoids it.

"Reiji, what's with you?" Mikaze asked. He looks at Camus and Ranmaru who were also avoiding his gaze.

"Ai, come over here for a second," The professor said and Mikaze immediately obeyed, leaving their eyes follow his back.

"Reiji, Kei and Katakiri—-oh, you singing boys—- I think you guys could go down in the basement." As soon as the sentence ended, Reiji, Kei and Katakiri left the living room, having the professor stepped aside as the others followed them.

Except for Camus and Ranmaru who stayed behind.

"It seems like you youngsters want to have a chat with me, eh?" The professor laughed.

"And it'll be one hell of a long chat..." Ranmaru said.

* * *

Creaking sounds coming from the stairs were heard as they went down the basement. It was dark and the air was so eerie that it somehow it was like they were in this horror movie wherein they have to find an item. Most of the ST RISH members have those feelings but as for the three, they were just rushing down the stairs.

When they reached the last step of the stairs, ahead of them was a long dark narrow hallway and at the end of the hallway has a door that the small gaps of the door was glowing in blue color. Reiji rushed towards the door and when he opened the door, the room was filled with different kinds of wires and machines. At the other side of the room was Mikaze.

"Mikaze-senpai!" Ittoki called but Mikaze ignores. This time, Syo calls his name and ran towards him but when he went nearer, he gave out a shriek that made the ST RISH members went to him and when they stood besidesSyo and when they looked at the direction where he's looking and saw Mikaze inside a tube, eyes closed, with wires attached to his body.

"Wh-what the..." Ichinose mutters under his breath when he saw Mikaze. Reiji stood beside them and saw Mikaze, all he could do was gap, not knowing what to say about the view in front of him.

* * *

"Even though you fellows are of Ai's group members, you still chose to stay behind..." The professor says.

"Well, of course I want to see Ai, but then there are some things I wanna ask ya," Ranmaru told him and puts his left leg over his right. Camus was taking a sip of his coffee and when he placed his mug on the table, he stayed silent. The professor looked at Ranmaru then to Camus and then leans back on the chair.

"So, what is it that you want to ask?" For the first time in history, Camus and Ranmaru looked at each other, nods once and then looked at the professor again and both at the same time, asked, "What really did happen to Aine?"

"He tried drowning himself in the sea."

"You know that's not what we mean," Ranmaru said and stood up, losing his cool.

"Before I tell you the reason _**why**_ he committed suicide, let me ask you first," He stood up from his sofa and then removes his glasses and looked at Ranmaru.

 _"Why would you want to know?"_


	6. Chapter 6

_**"Why would you want to know?"**_

* * *

They left the room, stunned of what they saw. Even though they knew that Mikaze was a robot, some still can't accept that fact. Katakiri and Kei went outside with them but Reiji stayed behind the room.

Ittoki took a deep sharp breath while Syo smacked his face.

"That was... the least thing I'll be expecting," Hijirikawa said and had his thumb and index finger pinching the upper part of his nose. Ren nods. Natsuki looked at the door of the room they just entered and frowned, worrying over Reiji.

Ranmaru, Camus and the professor came down a minute later when they all left the room. The professor looked at them and he immediately got what just happened.

"Kisaragi-hakase, Mikaze—-"

"As I told you lot, Mikaze is a robot. It's been a while since I last check on him so his under maintenance." He browsed the group and when he didn't saw Reiji with them, he asked them.

"He stayed inside, hakase," Kei replied and the professor nodded. The professor looked at the group. He opened the door and saw Reiji looking down on the floor.

"Reiji, do you now want to see Aine?" Reiji looked at the professor then to Katakiri and Kei and he nods. The professor looked at the ST RISH members to the two QUARTET NIGHT members.

"How about the two of you?" They all looked at one another and they just nodded. Reiji stepped aside and let the professor lead. When Camus and Ranmaru passed Mikaze, they didn't said a word but their faces slightly changed and their chest tightens and begun to ache a little.

A few corners were passed by and those filled with flask and chemicals inside.

"Kisaragi-hakase," Hijirikawa called out and the professor stopped and looked at him. "Just what kind of a professor are you?"

"Hn, with all the random things inside this room, it's kinda hard to tell..." Ren commented, Kisaragi-hakase smiled at what Ren said and he continues to walk as he talks.

"I like mixing chemicals here and there but I also like building stuffs from scratch. Ai here is a masterpiece of mine." He walks to where there are manikins lying on the floor, some just sitting. He stood up and faced Reiji in the eye. "I am actually surprised that you were able to make Ai sing."

"Isn't he programmed to sing?" The professor shook his head.

"He was only programmed to do the everyday activities of a man. I was just really surprised when there was one time where I heard Ai's voice in a radio along with you QUARTET NIGHT. I actually wanted to visit Ai and check on him but then I had no time."

Natsuki nodded and turned to Syo, "There was actually one time where his arms fell..."

"Oya, weren't you guys creeped out about that?" Ren said in a hush tone and Natsuki shook his head. The professor thanked Natsuki for the information. As they walked in deeper the room of the basement, the hallway got narrower and narrower until they walked in pairs.

Behind Cecil were Camus and Ranmaru who haven't talked ever since they went down the basement. Cecil looked behind his shoulder. He suddenly remembered that they weren't with them when they all went down the basement and he asked, "Camus, where were you a while ago?"

Camus and Ranmaru looked at each other and Camus sighed. Cecil titled his head a bit to the left and Camus opened his mouth and told Cecil that he just asked some stuffs to the professor. "And don't bother asked me what it was," He strictly ordered and Cecil obeyed and continued to walk forward.

Ranmaru looked at Camus and he immediately knew what Camus was thinking.

"Ne Camus, do you think Kisaragi-hakase would tell Reiji?" Ranmaru whispered and he shrugs.

"It depends if that hakase would tell Reiji." He looks at Ranmaru and then to Cecil's back and said, "But then whatever that hakase told us, it'd better not leak out."

* * *

"Why would you want to know?"

"I know it has nothing to do with me and Camus, but it concerns with Reiji and not to mention that Ai's a robot..."

"Besides, Kisaragi-hakase," Camus said, standing up, "There should be a reason of why Aine committed...suicide, correct?" And from this statement of Camus, the professor smiled.

"Where are you from?"

"I will gladly answer your question if you answer ours." Camus countered him and Ranmaru looked at him and then faced the professor.

"I did already tell you that Aine drowned himself because of the pressures he's been getting from the company. Kei visited my place once when Aine was sick and he told me everything but then even though he was under pressure, Aine was still smiling, especially when he's receiving text messages from Rei-kun.

"They were recording a new album of Aine's, *Virginal if I'm not mistaken. Kei told me that he needs to dance while singing. Aine's perfect at lip-syncing, and I'm not saying that he lip-sync's on live concerts, but then the director was in a foul mood that day and they kept on practising and practising.

"One time around that same week, I called my sister who's his mother and when I asked for Aine and they told me that he wasn't home yet, so I called Kei and told me that they'll be shooting the whole video overnight, him composing for another song.

"And the following day, after Aine's overnight practice, he went to my place and you can finish the whole puzzle." Kisaragi-hakase explained and then he looked at Camus.

Camus sighed and then answerd, "I am the Court of the Silk Palace from the country of Permafrost, serving the Silk Queen."

"Hn... A Court you say?"

"Tch, you and that Prince of Agnopolis really are alike..." Ranmaru said which made the professor looked at him and wanted to ask but he holds himself.

"Well, why don't we all go down?" The professor said and they all stood up and then went down to the basement.

* * *

Reiji was following Kisaragi-hakase through the narrow hallway and was silent all the way, didn't even bother to look behind his shoulder.

 _I was so stupid... Why didn't I realize Aine's pain sonner?!_ All these were revolving around Reiji's mind and his palm balled into a fist and was clenching it hard, gritting his teeth with anger.

Kei and Katakiri were behind him, both looked at each other and then looked at Reiji's back.

 _It's always been you, Rei... Always turning the negative to a positive one..._


End file.
